Customer Complaints Handling Procedure 31st March 2015 to 30th March 2016 sleeper.scot
2 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 3 Dear Guest I would like to extend you the warmest of Scottish welcomes on behalf of Caledonian Sleeper. We are a Scottish-based train-operating company run by Serco on behalf of Transport Scotland. We will run the Caledonian Sleeper for 15 years, starting from 1st April 2015. Every evening except for Saturday we run two trains in each direction between Scotland and England, serving Inverness, Aberdeen, Fort William, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London Euston, and 42 intermediate stations including Dundee and Perth as well as Carlisle, Preston, Crewe and Watford Junction in England providing a crucial link between the highlands and lowlands of Scotland and London. Listening to you is an essential part of who we are. Your feedback helps us to improve our services for the future and make amends for any problems you may have experienced when travelling with us. If you re not happy in any way, we ll take your comments or complaints very seriously and do everything we can to make things right. We define a complaint as any expression of dissatisfaction by our guests or potential guests about service delivery by Serco Caledonian Sleeper and/or about company or industry policy. We aim to sort out all complaints, quickly and effectively, without the need to involve any other organisation. However, we ve included information on independent organisations you can contact if you are unhappy with our response. I personally review our customer complaints procedure every year and as part of the review process we consult Passenger Focus, Transport Scotland, London TravelWatch and the Office of Rail Regulation before making any changes to the procedure. Peter Strachan Managing Director, Caledonian Sleeper This booklet explains our customer complaints procedure, how we deal with complaints and comments, and the service you can expect from us. This includes: how to make a complaint and who to contact; how to get in touch with us; how we will respond to your complaint; how we will deal with your complaint fairly; the types of compensation you can expect; and how we review and monitor the complaints we receive.
4 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 5 Contents 1. Our customer complaints procedure 3 2. What this procedure covers 7 3. What this procedure aims to do 8 4. What to do if you are not satisfied - how to contact us 9 4.1. Meet the Manager 9 5. Our complaints procedure 10 5.1. Guests with specific needs 11 5.2. Complaints about another train operator 11 5.3. Complaints involving more than one operator 12 5.4. Response times 12 5.5. Response times during busy periods 12 6. A full and fair investigation 14 6.1. Compensation 14 6.2. Unreasonable, aggressive or abusive customers 15 6.3. Confidentiality 16 7. Monitoring and reporting 17 7.1. Monitoring 17 7.2. Management reports 17 7.3. Claims for losses, property damage or personal injury 18 8. Reviewing our procedure 19 9. Contact information 20 10. Passenger Focus 21 11. London TravelWatch 22 5.6. Referring your complaint to Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch 13
6 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 7 1 Our customer complaints procedure We aim to give our customers the best possible service. However, we understand that occasionally things do go wrong, and when this happens it s important to us that we do everything we can to put things right. If you are not happy with any part of our service, please let us know. We ll fully investigate your complaint and work with you to sort out the issue. Whoever was responsible whether it was us, our contractors or our suppliers we will do our best to explain what went wrong and why. 2 What this procedure covers This complaints procedure describes how to let us know that you received unsatisfactory service from us or how to let us know if you are dissatisfied with any part of our company policy or procedure. This procedure applies to potential and actual guests. Before we introduced our complaints procedure, we took the views of Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch into account and gained approval for the procedure from the Office of Rail Regulation. We recognise that time doesn t stand still and that over time you may come to expect more from us and our procedures. Each year we will take into account the views you have expressed over the previous months, review our procedure and if necessary revise it. We will consult Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch every year and if we make changes to the procedure we will pass them to the Office of Rail Regulation to approve.
8 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 9 3 What this procedure aims to do Our customer complaints procedure is designed to make sure we deal with your complaint efficiently, fairly and effectively. We have made every effort to make sure our procedure is: Easy to find and understand Simple Efficient Fair to use backed up by the resources that mean we can respond to you promptly we will investigate your complaint fully and provide a fair response Respectful of your point of view and your confidentiality Effective deals with all of the points you raise so that both you and we are satisfied Monitored regularly audited for effectiveness and satisfaction, and part of the process we use to make sure we continue to improve our services Consistent with regulatory requirements, best practice and our Guest Charter 4 What to do if you are not satisfied - how to contact us If you can, the first thing you should do is speak to one of our staff on board or call our guest ambassadors they have the authority and the training to try to sort out your complaint immediately. If our on board staff cannot deal with your complaint to your satisfaction they will refer the matter to our guest ambassadors who will contact you for more information if necessary. Our Guest Services Centre contact details are below. Phone: 0330 060 0500 Phone lines are open: Monday to Friday: between 6am and midnight Saturday: between 8am and 4pm Sunday: between 3pm and midnight These hours may vary slightly over Christmas and New Year please check our website sleeper.scot for opening times. Our Guest Services Centre is not open on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Email: enquiry@sleeper.scot Post: 1 Union Street, Inverness, IV1 1PP 4.1 Meet the Manager We also run Meet the Manager sessions, at stations and on board our trains every three months. For more information, please see our website sleeper.scot and posters on the trains.
10 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 11 5 Our complaints procedure We are a small company and need to balance the needs of all of our customers. We provide an email complaint and comment form which is available from our website and our Guest Services Centre. Also, our on-board staff can arrange to have one sent to you direct from the train. We would prefer you to send us your complaint by email (please include your phone number). This way we can investigate your complaint and get back to you as quickly as possible saving us both time. We will confirm that we have received your email and, if necessary, ring you to get more details. Please tell us if there is a particular time you would like us to call you. Or, you can contact our Guest Services Centre by phone or by post. When you make a complaint, our guest ambassadors will enter your contact details and the details of the complaint onto our customer relations management system. This lets them see all the information on your case and pass it to the appropriate members of staff to investigate quickly. They can also track how the investigation is progressing. If you have given us a phone number, we may try to deal with your complaint over the phone. If you agree at the end of the call that we have dealt with the issue, we will not contact you again. If you are unhappy with our first response you can ask our Guest Experience Management team to review your complaint and how we have handled it. We will look at it again and respond to you, giving you the name and position of the manager who has reviewed your case and their findings. If you are unhappy with our second response you can refer your complaint to Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch. These are independent organisations, set up to protect the interests of rail users. They can review your case and deal with us on your behalf. Our second response will also explain the role of Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch and include their contact details, in case you want to contact them. 5.1 Guests with specific needs We understand that some people who have specific access requirements, or whose first language is not English, may have difficulties communicating with us. All documents that can be downloaded from our website are in Word format and our Disabled People s Protection Policy and Guest Charter are available in alternative formats such as Braille and audio. We handle these cases sensitively and respond in an appropriate format. We make allowances for customers who have sight or hearing difficulties and a Text Relay service is available when contacting our Guest Services Centre. 5.2 Complaints about another train operator If you complain to us about another train operator we will do the following. Acknowledge your complaint within three working days and forward it to the relevant operator s Customer Relations Department within five working days. In our acknowledgement we will give you the full address and contact details of the other operator. Keep a record of the correspondence. The other train operator will respond to your complaint in line with its own complaints procedure.
12 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 13 5.3 Complaints involving more than one operator If you make a complaint to us involving more than one operator, depending on how complicated the complaint is we will either: deal with our part of the complaint and tell you the parts the other operator will deal with; or organise a single response on behalf of all the operators involved. 5.6 Referring your complaint to Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch If you have taken your complaint to either Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch and they ask us for information, we will give them a full response within 10 working days. Please note that once Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch are investigating your case, our Guest Experience Delivery Manager may respond to them rather than to you. We will co-operate with transport providers outside the railway industry if a complaint involves us and another transport operator. 5.4 Response times When you complain to a member of our staff, on the phone or in person, we will try to deal with the complaint immediately. If this is not possible, we aim to respond fully to all complaints within five working days. If you haven t received a full response within this time, we will update you on the progress of your case and continue to update you every five days until we can respond fully. 5.5 Response times during busy periods As far as reasonable, we will try to make sure we meet our response times even when there is an unexpected increase in the number of complaints. However, if there are exceptional circumstances, such as a period of major disruption, we may, if Transport Scotland agree, increase these response times. If this happens we will tell you when we reply to your email. We will also put details on our website and put recorded messages on our Guest Services Centre phone lines. We will do our very best to reply to you as soon as we can.
14 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 15 6 A full and fair investigation We promise we will investigate all complaints made to us, fully and fairly. We will follow this customer complaints procedure and make every effort to deal with all the issues raised in your complaint. If your complaint is not upheld we will explain our actions or policies which have led to the complaint and explain how you can contact independent organisations if you are unhappy with our second response. When we investigate a complaint we will always check the facts, take steps to make sure we are impartial, and get reports from all appropriate staff and suppliers who may have been involved. When we respond to your complaint we will confirm the outcome of our internal investigation and any action we have taken to prevent the complaint happening again. If the complaint is upheld, we will offer you compensation. If the investigations involve our staff, we will tell you when these are necessary and tell you the role of the person carrying out the investigation. However, under the Data Protection Act, we are not able to tell you about any action taken against an individual member of staff 6.1 Compensation We will offer you compensation if it is appropriate. The amount we offer you will be in line with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, our guest charter and our compensation policy. Compensation will usually be offered as: Caledonian Sleeper vouchers, if your complaint is about facilities not being available on board (for example, there were no catering facilities available on your journey); National Rail Travel Vouchers, to be used for payment or part payment of a future journey; a complimentary ticket (or tickets) for a future journey; or a refund or partial refund using the same payment method you used to buy the original ticket. Our guest charter explains our compensation policy, including the levels of compensation you can expect if services are disrupted. You can get our guest charter from our Guest Services Centre, staffed stations, on board our trains and from our website, sleeper.scot. 6.2 Unreasonable, aggressive or abusive customers Our complaints procedure does not cover the following areas. Delays and cancellations to train services. Please see our guest charter for how to claim compensation if your train is delayed. Personal injury claims, which are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Complaints which are unreasonably made or which you continue with after we have offered a reasonable solution (as judged by Passenger Focus, or London TravelWatch for journeys between Watford Junction and London). Any complaint which is associated with abusive or violent behaviour. Although your complaint may still be valid, we will treat it differently if it is about abusive or violent behaviour. We have a duty to protect our employees and in these circumstances this will be our first priority.
16 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 17 If you believe we have not met our customer service standards, we understand that you may feel upset. While we respect the rights of our customers to express their views, we will not tolerate aggressive, threatening or abusive behaviour of any kind. We have the right to end any correspondence or communication that we believe to be frivolous, vexatious or abusive in line with the guidelines issued by the Office of Rail Regulation. We will consult the Office of Rail Regulation, Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch before we end any correspondence and tell you in writing the reasons behind our decision. 6.3 Confidentiality We will not pass your personal details, or details about your complaint, to anyone else unless we have your permission in writing, or it is necessary to help the police, Members of Parliament, the Department for Transport, other train operators, Passenger Focus or London TravelWatch when they are investigating cases or crimes. All of Caledonian Sleeper staff will keep to the Data Protection Act at all times. A copy of our personal data protection policy is available from our Guest Services Centre. 7 Monitoring and reporting 7.1 Monitoring We actively monitor our customer complaints procedure to make sure it is effective. We monitor your phone calls, letters and emails to make sure we handle your complaint in a friendly, appropriate and professional manner. We sample and review responses we have made to you by phone and in writing to make sure we deal with complaints promptly and effectively. We enter details of complaints onto our customer relations management system, allowing us to analyse the number and type of complaints received and our response times. We invite feedback on complaints through our regular guest survey. 7.2 Management reports Our monitoring processes help us assess whether we are handling complaints efficiently and make sure you are satisfied with our responses. Your feedback helps us identify where we can make things better. To make sure our managers encourage improvement, we: send managers and directors feedback from our guests every week (our managers will use this information to identify and act upon areas for improvement); provide a summary of comments and complaints to the Serco board every four weeks; and
18 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 19 monitor response times to make sure we have the correct resources in place to deal with complaints. This will also contribute to our Guest Excellence programme (our feedback programme on customer satisfaction that helps drive improvement). 8 Reviewing our procedure We formally review this procedure every year, and any changes are made in consultation with the Office of Rail Regulation, Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch. 7.3 Claims for losses, property damage or personal injury If you want to make a claim against us for losses, property damage or personal injury, please write to our Guest Services Centre by letter or email (see Contact information on section 4). They will either deal with your claim or pass it to our insurance and claims handlers. The rail industry has an arrangement called the Claims Allocation and Handling Agreement (CAHA). We, like all train-operating companies, must keep to the CAHA and we will deal with your claims in line with this agreement. Under the CAHA, each train-operating company must have arrangements in place for compensating their own customers. If another organisation is held to be fully or partly responsible, the insurance companies balance the payments without involving you. We have internal processes for handling claims by third parties. We regularly review these arrangements with our insurers and claims handlers.
20 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 21 9 Contact information We make it as easy as possible for you to contact us if you need to comment or make a complaint. Please contact our Guest Services Centre: 1 Union Street Inverness IV1 1PP Website: sleeper.scot Email: enquiry@sleeper.scot Phone: 0330 060 0500 Textphone: 01463231951 Phone lines are open: Monday to Friday: between 6am and midnight Saturday: between 8am and 4pm Sunday: between 3pm and midnight 10 Passenger Focus We If you are not satisfied with our response to your claim or complaint, you can appeal to an independent watchdog called Passenger Focus. You can contact them at: RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ PassengerFocus PO Box 5594 Southend on Sea SS1 9PZ Website: www.passengerfocus.org.uk Email: advice@passengerfocus.org.uk Phone: 0300 123 2350 These hours may vary slightly over Christmas and New Year. Our Guest Services Centre is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Copies of our Customer Complaints Handling Procedure You can find copies of our Customer Complaints Handling Procedure on board, at all staffed stations we serve and from our website sleeper.scot. It is also available from our Guest Services Centre in alternative formats (Braille and audio).
22 CALEDONIAN SLEEPER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE 23 11 London TravelWatch For complaints for stations between London and Watford Junction, please contact London TravelWatch. London TravelWatch 169 Union Street London SE1 0LL Website: www.londontravelwatch.org.uk Email: enquiries@londontravelwatch.org.uk Phone: 020 3176 2999
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